Semaglutide, known by its brand name Wegovy, has become a popular weight loss tool. Here’s how it works, and the risks to know about
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| Wegovy has been predicted to make £20 billion in peak sales, which would make it the most successful drug in history CREDIT: Getty |
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/health-fitness/diet/weight-loss/wegovy-side-effects-benefits/
Walk into your local convenience store and take a good look at the shelves. Are you looking at food?
Walk into your local convenience store and take a good look at the shelves. Are you looking at food? Or does the brightly coloured packaging largely contain something engineered to resemble food, but with a list of unrecognisable ingredients as long as your arm? The chances are you are mainly looking at what is termed ultra processed food (UPF), and which experts believe is responsible for a grave public health crisis on a par with smoking.
Welcome to the obesogenic environment in which we all now live. Just as parking an ice cream van outside a school every day will lead inexorably to more children eating more ice cream on school days, filling our shops and food outlets with the kinds of products that make it easy to make bad choices and hard to make the right ones leads to more obesity.
At least, that is one explanation for why, as a society, we have become so overweight. In the UK, an estimated 25 per cent of adults are living with obesity, according to the NHS. By 2030, this figure is expected to rise to 35 per cent in England. As the health service points out, it is “a complex health issue with many causes.”
The NHS is yet to categorise obesity as a disease. But a growing number of health experts and organisations believe it should be viewed as such.
The World Health Organisation, European Parliament and American Medical Association (AMA) already use the term “disease” to describe what used to be regarded as the failure of individual willpower.
Time and again we were told that if only we ate a healthy, balanced diet and took regular exercise, we could more or less avoid becoming fat, or lose any excess weight we had gained. This remains the official advice in the UK. And of course, for many people, it remains true – to some extent. But as the NHS acknowledges, the obesity problem has grown because “the environment we live in makes it difficult for many people to eat healthily and do enough physical activity.”
It is here – and also in our increased understanding of the part genetics plays – that the line between personal responsibility and an affliction beyond our control becomes blurred.
It has been a decade since the AMA voted to recognise obesity as a disease, with a number of other medical societies supporting this position. We have been slower in the UK to reach this conclusion; but in 2019, the Royal College of Physicians adopted the same stance. Their reasoning? That this was the only way to ensure funding for effective treatment options that could halt the spread of obesity across society and control its health and socioeconomic costs.
“I think the scientific community is well aligned with the view [that obesity is a disease],” says Dr Simon Cork, senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University. “We’ve known…for a long time that body weight isn’t due to personal choice but a combination of genetics, physiology and the environment.
“I often think of body weight as like blood pressure. If your blood pressure goes too high, we use medication to artificially bring it down. Body weight is regulated in very much the same way. It’s programmed around what we call a set point. So for the vast majority of people, whether they are underweight, overweight or obese, their body weight is stable…Your body tries to protect what it thinks is your normal body weight.”
You may succeed in shedding the pounds temporarily. Keeping them off is far harder. The reasons for this, as Dr Cork explains, lie in the interplay between genetics and the environment.
There are hundreds of gene variants associated in some way with body weight so many people have a genetic vulnerability to weight gain.
In a world where energy-dense foods that are rich in refined carbohydrates, saturated fats and salt, and low in dietary fibre are widely available to the point of being impossible to avoid, the environment makes it impossible for many of these people to live at a so-called ‘healthy weight’.
“I like to count the number of opportunities to buy a can of Coke from when I arrive at an airport to when I board a plane,” says Dr Chris van Tulleken, author of Ultra-Processed People, an investigation into the science and economics of ultra-processed foods. “There are typically dozens of opportunities. These foods are everywhere in the way cigarettes were in the 1970s. And the evidence that for some people they’re addictive is very strong.”
Most of us already know that cola does not form part of a healthy diet. Fewer people may be aware how many of our daily comestibles fall into the category of UPF: from supermarket sliced bread, breakfast cereals and frozen pizzas, to fruit-flavoured yoghurts, ham, sausages and some alcoholic drinks.
These foods and beverages are everywhere – more than half our diet is now composed of UPFs – and research in recent years has linked high consumption of them with being overweight and obesity. Because these (often highly flavoured) energy-dense foods are designed to be so moreish, it is hard to regulate our intake of them.
The solution, then, is evidently nowhere near as simple as telling people to cut them out and switch to a diet of whole foods and meals cooked from scratch. (Although, ideally, this is exactly what we should do.) Not only are UPFs ubiquitous and addictive, but as Henry Dimbleby, Leon co-founder and former Government food tsar, writes in his recent book Ravenous: “The plain fact is that unhealthy processed food is cheaper per calorie than fresh food.” In other words, not everyone can afford to avoid it.
Van Tulleken, like Dimbleby and others in the public health and scientific arenas, believes it makes no more sense to blame obesity on the individual than we would cancer or any other condition.
“As a doctor, I see [people living with obesity] as having a disease caused by living in an environment that’s deeply harmful to their body,” he says. “The idea that willpower or personal responsibility has anything to do with any of this is entirely debunked.”
He cites the weight gain that was seen across all ethnic and income groups in the US from the Seventies onwards. “You can’t think of anything that suddenly created a failure of individual willpower or personal responsibility that would explain all those groups being affected together, especially when we have a robust explanation: the rise in food engineered to be eaten to excess.”
So what do we do about it? Dimbleby and van Tulleken are among those who believe far more robust regulation of the food industry is needed. Frustrated at the Government’s failure to take the required action, Dimbleby quit his role in March, blaming ministers’ obsession with “ultra-free-market ideology”. They were too worried about being seen as a “nanny state” to act, he suggested.
But van Tulleken argues we are already living in a “nanny state”, only one in which the nannying is done by the food corporations. “I’d like our elected officials to enable us to have access to good information and to make real food available,” he says. “I’d like more choice and freedom. It’s a libertarian argument.”
In the meantime, we now have effective drugs to treat the symptom of the problem – obesity – just as the lung cancer caused by cigarettes has long been treated in hospitals. At a time when the NHS is under inordinate pressure, we can hardly afford not to treat obesity before it triggers the illnesses associated with it (including cancer and cardiovascular disease). The illnesses that also cause economic inactivity.
Data shows that in 2021, the NHS spent £166 billion on the treatment of obesity and overweight across the UK. It seems clear that advising people to get off the sofa more often just isn’t working.
It is against this backdrop that a new generation of weight loss drugs has arrived. You’ve probably heard of Ozempic. Wegovy is another. Such medications are now seen as crucial weapons in our multi-pronged battle against the bulge.
“Obesity leads to disease states so we should treat it as a disease and treat it with effective, safe drugs,” says Dr Cork.
Are we satisfied they are effective and safe?
“I think we are,” he says. “As long as they are prescribed and monitored appropriately.” Although all drugs carry the risk of potential side effects, Dr Cork believes the weight loss drugs we have now are the best yet.
“It’s not a question of ‘is [the solution] drugs or is it changes to the environment?’” says van Tulleken. “People living with obesity today need treatment now. The drugs aren’t as good as the companies say they are, but they’re among the best treatments we have, they’re good and they should be freely available and accessible to everyone.”
Failing to take action, both in treating the disease of obesity and treating its causes, is a false economy, he argues. “I want people to have real choice,” he says. “We can’t afford not to do this.”
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/obesity-evolved-lack-willpower-disease-171158210.html
We know we need to lose weight but a diet overhaul remains so daunting that many of us don’t even start.
We know we need to lose weight but a diet overhaul remains so daunting that many of us don’t even start. How encouraging, then, to read a new study that reveals how “calorie shaving” – small but consistent changes in food intake – can have a powerful impact on your weight.
The research from Oxford University found that takeaway apps which offered smaller portion sizes reduced the calorie content of takeaways by up to 15 per cent, or 209 calories, per order.
“Simple interventions that make it easy to make small changes to what we eat could help reduce obesity, if delivered at scale,” says researcher Dr Filippo Bianchi.
Nutritionist Sam Rice agrees: “Calorie shaving can be an effective weight-management tool because you can incorporate it into daily life,” she says. “By shaving off 300 calories a day, you’ll lose a pound every 11 days.” Push it to 500 calories per day and the average person will lose a pound a week – or a stone in six months. Here’s how to lose that weight without feeling deprived.
“Most pastries are high in calories,” says Sejal Jacob, of the British Dietetic Association. “A better option is a toasted teacake, which contains around 160 calories.”
Better still to make breakfast at home. Overnight oats, yoghurt with fruit, porridge, oat-based cereals or a slice of sourdough toast, which is around 150
to 180 calories, are lower-calorie alternatives, says Sophie Thompson, dietitian at the Princess Grace Hospital, London.
A classic meal deal – sandwich, crisps and sweet drink – can be around 800 calories.
“Pick a sandwich made with brown bread, containing tuna and sweetcorn or salmon and watercress,” says dietitian Sian Porter. “Swerve sandwiches with a lot of cheese, mayo or processed meat, replace the crisps and cola with fruit and water, and save 300 calories.”
Spray oil contains just one calorie per spray, whereas a tablespoon of oil is around 100. Replacing traditional oils and other fats with spray oil could save up to 300 calories per portion.
“People buy a family-sized bag and eat the whole thing,” says Porter. Nuts are high in “good” unsaturated fats but also high in calories. A 200 calorie portion is just three brazil nuts, 16 cashews, 13 walnuts or 23 almonds. “Two handfuls of nuts contain 400 calories,” adds Porter. “Try measuring out portions into a small bowl.”
“Any takeaway is likely to be higher in fats, calories and salt than a home-cooked meal,” says Jacob, often as much as 500 calories more. She recommends using delivery apps no more than once a fortnight, and no takeaways for those with high cholesterol or cardiovascular issues.
There are ways to cut down calories when you indulge in takeaways. “Ordering a thin-crust pizza rather than a thick one can save up to 100 calories per slice because it contains less dough,” says Thompson. Vegetable toppings, rather than processed meats, can save 100 calories per slice.
Opt for steamed plain rice rather than egg-fried rice, sticky rice or pilau, which can all often be up to 200 calories more per portion. You can also save around 500 calories by sharing a curry,
rice and a vegetable side dish, says Porter.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/stealth-diet-secret-lasting-weight-162209406.html
Jamie Oliver is renowned in the food industry for his healthy meals and tips for leading a balanced lifestyle. And in some cases, he is speaking from experience as he also managed to drop a whopping two stones and transform himself with a diet plan.
Jessica Williams - 17h ago Daily Express
The TV chef's weight has fluctuated over the years and he admitted because he spent so much time trying to better other people's lives, he began to neglect his own health.
But with his numerous cookbooks and TV shows highlighting the importance of good, healthy food, he decided to make a change.
He said: "I realised I hadn't spent much time looking after myself.
"I went back to school and started studying nutrition, started travelling to parts of the world to where people live the longest lives and started looking at their lifestyles.
READ MORE: Diet: Expert warns against common mistake
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| Jamie Oliver lost 2st by increasing his food - what he ate© GETTY |
"That was the journey and it's been amazing," he told Loose Women.
He's dropped an incredible two stone during the process and he did it by eating more than he used to.
As a nutritional expert, he explained it's about what a person eats rather than how much they eat.
He said: "I pushed meat down, pushed veggies up, got more sleep and more movement.
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"I lost 12 kilos (two stone) quite quickly and I didn't do it through not eating. I ate a lot, more than I used to!"
While eating more greens is a healthy step forward, Jamie warned that by dropping meat it's important people find protein in other foods so as to ensure they are still getting the right intake of the important micronutrient.
His diet also included healthy fats such as nuts, which he revealed "makes you half as likely to have a heart attack," encouraging people to "feed them to your kids".
Not only that but his weight loss transformation was supported by one surprising food he incorporated into his diet.
READ MORE: Michael Mosley weight loss: Remove three foods to stay slim
Seaweed is believed to be a "secret ingredient" when it comes to losing weight.
Scientists at Newcastle University said alginate, a compound found in common seaweed, would "stop the body absorbing fat" by suppressing the digestion of fat in the gut.
It is also high in fibre, contains fucoxanthin, which is thought to help increase metabolism, and has very few calories.
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| he explained it's about what a person eats rather than how much they eat© GETTY |
He told the Daily Mail: "I thought seaweed was hippy, globetrotting stuff but our ancestors ate seaweed. It's the most nutritious vegetable in the world."
Jamie also cut back on alcohol, removing his mid-week glass of wine and now only drinks at the weekends.
Several studies have revealed that excess alcohol consumption is linked to weight gain, as it contains lots of hidden calories and is renowned for can tricking people into feeling hungry.
Alongside his new heathy eating schedule, Jamie also overhauled his exercise regime and finally found one that works for him and his busy lifestyle.
He admitted in the past he found training "boring" and put on weight as a result, but after moving his workout time to become part of his working day, he realised how beneficial it was for him.
"The minute I did that I got really good at it. It's totally mental," he beamed.
"It's not about getting it right all the time, in fact, it's absolutely vital that you don't get it right all of the time. You've just got to get it right most of the time," he told Men's Health.
Learn how to get your cholesterol under control naturally.
High cholesterol doesn't make the headlines that other health concerns do, but it's a hidden danger that affects millions of Americans. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Nearly 94 million U.S. adults age 20 or older have total cholesterol levels higher than 200 mg/dL. Twenty-eight million adults in the United States have total cholesterol levels higher than 240 mg/dL." High cholesterol often doesn't show signs, but a blood test can indicate if your levels are too high. If left untreated high cholesterol can lead to serious health issues like heart disease, stroke, diabetes and more. Eat This, Not That! Health spoke with Sean Marchese, MS, RN, a registered nurse at The Mesothelioma Center with a background in oncology clinical trials and over 15 years of direct patient care experience who shares five ways to help naturally lower your cholesterol. As always, please consult with your physician for medical advice. Read on—and to ensure your health and the health of others, don't miss these Sure Signs You've Already Had COVID.
Marchese tells us, "Many foods naturally lower cholesterol levels, and you can take steps to remove sources of cholesterol from your diet. Avoid saturated fats, such as red meats and full-fat dairy, and trans fats from oil, crackers, cookies and cakes. Soluble fiber reduces cholesterol absorption in the blood and is found in oatmeal, kidney beans, apples, and Brussels sprouts. Whey protein from dairy products has been shown to lower LDL and total cholesterol and may improve blood pressure. Food rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, walnuts and flaxseed, don't directly affect cholesterol levels. Still, they contribute to healthy heart tissue and blood vessels."
Marchese says, "Moderate alcohol use can contribute to higher HDL levels or "bad" cholesterol. Healthy adults should avoid alcohol as much as possible or aim for no more than one to two daily drinks. In addition to high cholesterol, recurrent alcohol use can lead to hypertension, heart failure and stroke."
"Tobacco use can increase heart pressure and heart rate, compounding the adverse effects of atherosclerosis from high cholesterol levels," Marchese explains. "Quitting tobacco improved HDL cholesterol levels by improving blood circulation and lung function. A year after quitting, heart disease risk is cut in half for most ex-smokers."
According to Marchese, "People who carry weight around their abdomen tend to have a higher ratio of visceral fat, which can adversely affect sensitive organs like the liver. Extra weight contributes to high cholesterol and increases the workload on arteries and blood vessels. Reducing sugary foods, incorporating healthy snacks, and finding ways to increase activity throughout the day are all great ways to improve weight loss."
Marchese shares, "Physical activity raises the production of HDL in your bloodstream, which helps clear LDL and reduces atherosclerosis. The recommendation for healthy adults is about 30 minutes of moderate exercise five times per week or vigorous aerobics for 20 minutes three times per week. Try finding ways to incorporate more activity throughout your days, such as a walk during the afternoon, evening bike rides, sports or an active hobby like hiking or swimming."
5 Ways to Lower Your Cholesterol Naturally — Eat This Not That
